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“Article 12. Political gatherings of five or more persons, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding 10,000 baht, or both, unless permission has been granted by the Head of the NCPO or an authorized representative.”

With the ban on parties engaging in political activity still in place, a group of pro-junta politicians is forming a political coalition to support junta leader Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha in the upcoming general elections. The coalition will target the Northeast, the stronghold of the Pheu Thai party.

Several prisons certified as ‘model prisons’ by the Thai Institute of Justice (TIJ) fall short of international standards, as found by Prachatai English in a visit to several prisons, and according to a group activists and researchers, including former lèse majesté prisoner Pornthip Mankhong.

Despite close ties with the military government, an anti-election hyper-royalist monk has been detained for criminal association, extortion and counterfeiting a royal emblem. The incident has raised the question of whether the junta is still in full control of Thai politics.

The mass media reform plan is preparing to push forward a media control law by the end of 2018, and appoint the nine members of the professional council to set media ethics standards, control media that do not wish to become members of any professional organisation, as well as increase measures to criminalize online and social media that disseminate content affecting security and the nation’s core institutions.
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While suspects ordinarily seek ways to reduce their sentence or prove their innocence, a human rights lawyer accused of royal defamation has dismissed his defence lawyers, called no witnesses and challenged the court’s authority in protest against injustice.
On 8 May 2018, the Bangkok Criminal Court heard a witness in the case where human rights lawyer Prawet Prapanukul, 57, is accused of violating Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the royal defamation law.
Before the testimony began, Prawet had a heated 30-minute argu

Instead of investigating human rights violations, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has been mandated to defend the image of the military government and this new measure is likely to be permanent, said Human Rights Watch.
Two weeks ago, What Tingsamitr, the NHRC chairperson, told the media that the commission is initiating an investigation into the human rights report recently released by the US State Department. What stated that according to the 2017 Constitution, the NHRC is responsible for scrutinising reports on human rights in Thailand.

While the confronting political ideologies in western countries are the left and the right, their counterparts in Thai politics are moral politics and the politics of economic inequality. These ideologies will be represented through political parties in the upcoming election.
In the 2018 elections, policies will not and cannot be a decisive factor since politicians have to conform to the NCPO’s National Strategic Plan which provides a policy framework that future governments have to follow for the next 20 years.